


for if there were more, they did not matter

by barbatoslatte



Category: Samurai Warriors (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, M/M, i'm writing this for like one person but that's okay, inspired by one little oneshot i wrote, no beta reader we die like mitsunari, this fandom is dead so i will fEED IT, written from third person because i physically cannot write first person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25883179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barbatoslatte/pseuds/barbatoslatte
Summary: "Kuroda Kanbei!"Hanbei felt his blood run cold. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. This was a mistake. This couldn't be happening. Kanbei hadn't been picked. He had to have heard wrong.
Relationships: Kuroda Kanbei/Takenaka Hanbei, Takenaka Hanbei & Hosokawa Gracia
Comments: 14
Kudos: 7





	1. the reaping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pilongski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilongski/gifts).



> so! big info dump right here kinda bc it doesnt fit in the story
> 
> tl;dr i changed a LOT of shit
> 
> \- while the original oneshot was based off of rue's death scene from the actual hunger games, this oneshot will probably not follow the plot of the book that well, since i had to make a lot of changes  
> \- there isn't gonna be a peeta-type character in this story because i have no idea who to put with hanbei other than kanbei, and that's not gonna work for ... reasons  
> \- i really had to improvise with the tributes because there are definitely not enough kids in samurai warriors and hanbei isn't even a kid. he just looks like one. so now adults can be in the hunger games too :')  
> \- also the two tributes for each district are people that probably don't make a lot of sense because yeah  
> \- hanbei uses bows and arrows now! yay  
> \- nobunaga is not representing president snow. president snow is there i guess because yeah. (wow that's my reasoning for a lot of this)  
> \- gracia is called akechi tama since that was her name before she got married and baptized 
> 
> and that's really it you can read now

On Reaping Day, Hanbei always wished nothing more than to sleep through it.

"If I sleep all day, it's like that day never happened, right?" he said to Kanbei, who just let out a scoff. Of course, he knew this wasn't really the case. He wasn't a kid. He _looked_ like a kid, but he made up for that with his intelligence.

Although, it was fun to act dumb sometimes. 

Hanbei sat up in bed and looked around for Kanbei, as his side of the bed was empty except for their pet cat, Aiko, who was laying on the pillow. Usually on Reaping Day, Kanbei would spend most of the morning sitting in bed, Aiko in his lap, looking grim. Hanbei knew why: Kanbei had lost his mother during the Hunger Games when she was reaped, and he never wanted to face that loss again. Hanbei couldn't imagine how much it hurt to lose someone to this unfair system, but he didn't like to see Kanbei thinking about it.

Hanbei would then crawl over to Kanbei and place a kiss on his forehead.

"Don't worry your big head about it, neither of us will be picked!" he would say. "I'll go looking for something special for dinner, yeah? Maybe strawberries?"

"It's always strawberries," Kanbei would reply, but he would smile, which was all that mattered. 

Hanbei slipped out of bed and changed out of his pajamas, then went to look for Kanbei, who was sitting by the window in a chair. He was watching the autumn leaves fall from the trees. 

"Hey, mister worrier," Hanbei teased, wrapping his arms around Kanbei's neck. "Why did you leave the bed early? I was lonely." 

"I think better when I'm sitting in a chair."

"But Kaaanbei, I was _lonely._ Don't you love me?" 

"Are you doing the pouty face again?" Kanbei asked, not looking away from the window. 

"You know me so well," Hanbei said. "But why wouldn't you? You're smart like that."

He hoped to earn a smile from that, but he got nothing. Hanbei went to stand in front of Kanbei and placed a hand on his. 

"Listen, you're worrying for nothing. Every year the Reaping happens and every year we're not picked. So please don't worry, it makes me sad. Okay? Can we eat breakfast now? I'm hungry."

Kanbei sighed as he got up from his chair. 

"You're either hungry or you're sleepy," he said, though he smiled a little. "You're really like a child."

"I am _not_! You're so mean."

* * *

Hanbei went out about twenty minutes to pick strawberries for that night's dinner. (And to do some hunting, but that was an unspoken thing.) He knew Kanbei liked the ones that grew by the fence the most ("They do not taste the same as other strawberries. It's a subtle difference") , which was perfect since that was where the forest full of animals was. 

"I'll pick ten instead of twenty since I bet the trap I set yesterday caught something nice," he murmured to himself, placing the strawberries in a bag along with some greens. After counting ten, he looked around, then ducked under the fence and ran towards the largest tree, storing his bag there and taking out a bow and arrow from where it was hidden inside the tree trunk. 

A rustling made him turn his head quickly towards the fence, but he relaxed immediately when he saw it was only a rabbit. Taking aim, he shot an arrow and it landed in the rabbit's eye. Satisfied with his catch, he took out the arrow and carried the rabbit in his hand, not wanting it to dirty the strawberries and greens. 

The trap he had set, however, was not there when Hanbei ran to the place he had put it. He searched everywhere and wasn't able to find it, finally coming to the conclusion that someone had taken it or he had forgotten where it was, and he wasn't about to search longer since he had to be home soon. 

_Hopefully a Peacekeeper didn't find it,_ he thought, but quickly brushed that thought away. Peacekeepers didn't go beyond the fence much, and the Peacekeepers in District 12 were all pretty lenient anyway. They were hungry just like everyone else. They didn't care where food came from as long as they could eat.

Before leaving, he went to the little stream nearby and caught a few fish, which he could trade at the Hob for something else for that night's dinner. Possibly wild dog or some soup that could be served cold. Then he ducked back under the fence.

* * *

"Kanbei, I couldn't find that trap I set, but I brought back strawberries and some stuff from the market!" he announced to the house at large as he entered. "Someone traded me cheese for the little fish I caught, too!"

"Don't be so loud and comb your hair," was the reply from the bedroom, and Hanbei scowled. 

"You act like an old man," he said, poking Kanbei in the cheek when he went into the bedroom. "I wasn't _that_ loud. It was only so your old man ears could hear me."

"Need I remind you that I am younger than you," Kanbei said, "so if my ears are old, yours are even worse. Now comb your hair."

Hanbei ran the comb under some water, then tried to flatten down his hair with it. He knew that it never worked, but berating Hanbei to do it seemed to distract Kanbei, and Hanbei always tried to keep Kanbei from thinking about the Reaping. 

"Does this look okay?" he asked after about five minutes of vigorous combing in which he was sure he had probably pulled out some hair. Kanbei gave a nod, then ruffled Hanbei's hair, making it messy again. Hanbei grinned.

* * *

In the Square, where everyone was gathered, it was mostly silent except for a few whispers. The Mayor, a usually exuberant man named Hideyoshi, recited the history of the Hunger Games and why it was important. Essentially, it was a punishment for the rebellion the districts had organized long ago against the Capitol, but the Capitol overpowered the districts, obliterating District 13 in the process. From then on, each district had to send a boy and a girl to fight to the death in an arena on live TV. Most were reaped, but some, often from Districts 1 and 2, would volunteer, eager to participate and show off their skills as fighters.

Sickeningly, the Capitol treated this as a festivity, for they never had to participate in this bloodbath. Their privilege meant they didn't have to. Why would they?

Hideyoshi read the names of the previous District 12 victors, of which there were only two. Only one was still alive, a man named Mitsuhide Akechi, who had a young daughter born after his victory. Mitsuhide was a very reserved man who didn't like bloodshed, and had only won when he killed the District 1 tribute, Nobunaga Oda, by setting his camp on fire as he slept.

However, after this incident, Mitsuhide had become horribly guilt-ridden and almost never talked to anybody at all except his daughter afterwards. This wasn't good for the tributes, who had to have him as their (unhelpful) mentor. He was one of the reasons people dreaded to be chosen, since he provided no assistance. He stood on the stage quietly with his hands behind his back, keeping his eyes glued to something in front of him that only he could apparently see. 

The District 12 escort, a pretty woman named Nō, walked up to the podium and gave the signature line, " Happy Hunger games, and may the odds be ever in your favor." 

Hanbei felt Kanbei's grip on his hand tighten, and he tried to reassuringly smile at Kanbei, but Kanbei would not look at him. He had his eyes glued to the ground. Hanbei then turned back to watch Nō.

"It's time for the drawing," she announced. "Ladies first, of course." She walked over to the glass ball with all of the girls' names in it and pulled out a slip of paper. As she did so it felt like everyone in the crowd drew in one anxious breath. _Don't let it be me_ , they were all thinking. Hanbei heard a few people whispering prayers under their breath.

"Akechi Tama!"

The crowd instantly falls silent, and all eyes swiveled to the pink haired pigtailed girl in the crowd, then to her father standing onstage. He looked like someone had just slapped him in the face. Hanbei felt bad for him. Tama was only twelve, and twelve year olds never survived the games. Mitsuhide would have to suffer an horrible loss. 

Tama slowly walked up to the podium, her fists clenched tightly, and for a moment Hanbei thought she was going to try and stay stoic and silent and tough. However, as soon as she got onstage, she practically ran towards her father and hid behind him, peeking out at the crowd nervously. Nō chuckled at this _(how dare_ _she?_ Hanbei thought with a surge of anger) and grabbed the girl's wrist, pulling her out from behind her father and forcing her to stand where she could be seen by everyone. Her bottom lip trembled. 

"Any volunteers?" Nō asked the silent crowd. 

The wind whistled. Tama covered her face and started to shake, letting out quiet sobs. 

"Time to choose our gentlemen who will be participating alongside this young lady," Nō said, pulling out a slip from the glass ball that held the boys' names. Hanbei could hear Kanbei murmuring under his breath, "Not Hanbei. Not Hanbei." Hanbei wanted to slap him. _He shouldn't be hoping it's not me, he should be hoping it's not him!_

"Not Hanbei."

It wasn't Hanbei. 

It was Kanbei.

"Kuroda Kanbei!"

Hanbei felt his blood run cold. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. This was a mistake. This couldn't be happening. Kanbei hadn't been picked. He had to have heard wrong. 

Kanbei unclenched his hand from Hanbei's and started walking towards the podium. He walked stiffly. He only walked stiffly when he was afraid, and he often wasn't afraid. The sight made Hanbei's heart race.

"KANBEI, STOP!" Hanbei shouted, and he pushed through the crowd and grabbed Kanbei's arm. "Kanbei, stop!"

"Hanbei, let _go_ ," Kanbei hissed, and Hanbei let go, but he didn't turn back. He ran in front of Kanbei, stared Nō directly in the face, and shouted, "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"

Instantly the crowd broke out into whispers. They didn't dare speak louder, but Hanbei could hear snippets of their conversations as he walked onto the stage, refusing to look back at Kanbei's face.

"A volunteer? We haven't had one in years!"

"Why is he volunteering for him? Isn't that boy really young?"

"I agree, he looks like he's the same age as the girl." 

"You idiot, he's volunteering for his fiance!"

"Damn."

"You volunteer?" Nō repeated. Her face broke out in a smile. "Wonderful! This should make things more interesting. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Takenaka Hanbei." 

"Well, Hanbei, you're the first volunteer for District 12 in so long. How exciting!" Nō exclaimed, though no one in the crowd looked at all excited. "Now, the Mayor will read the Treaty of Treason, and then we'll take you into the Justice Building where you can say goodbye and such, and then you'll be taken to the Capitol."

* * *

"Why would you volunteer?" 

Hanbei blinked, surprised. He fully expected Kanbei to be angry, to yell at him for being foolish, or to say he was acting like a child. Instead, Kanbei walked in, sat down on the velvet couch, and asked Hanbei the question straight out. 

"I wasn't going to let you die, obviously," he said.

For a few moments, Kanbei said nothing. Then he replied, "So you're going to make me go through this again. Just like my mother."

"Kanbei, I—" 

"Do you want me to lose you? Do you want me to mourn your death?"

"Did you want those things to happen to _me_?" Hanbei fired back. "I'm sorry, Kanbei, but I wouldn't be able to take the loss of you either. I may be making the worst decision, but at least I'm not losing you to the stupid bloodbath that is the Hunger Games and I think you should be glad that you're not going to die!"

Again, nothing. 

"I don't want to lose you," Kanbei muttered. "You're the best thing that's happened to me, and you're taking that away."

Hanbei felt his heart break. He hadn't thought about it that way. He had just wanted to save Kanbei.

"I didn't want to lose you either," he admitted. "Kanbei, please don't— no, don't cry!" 

He hurried to Kanbei's side and wiped away a tear with his thumb. 

"I'll win for you, I promise, okay? When I win and come home you can have all the strawberries you want. I'll make your favorite dinner and we can spend all day together, yeah? Just promise you won't be sad, Kanbei, I don't like it when you're sad." He was practically begging Kanbei not to be upset. "Kanbei, when I get home we can get married. I know we were putting it off for a while but we can. Will you promise not to be sad if I promise you that?"

"I suppose," Kanbei huffed. "Hanbei, you can't make all these promises you can't ke—"

Hanbei pressed a kiss to Kanbei's lips to cut him off. He tasted of strawberries and of salt and of tears and of love. Hanbei didn't want to to break away. He knew if he did, he wouldn't see Kanbei again. 

Then a Peacekeeper showed up at the door, saying "Your time is up," and Hanbei and Kanbei broke apart. Hanbei hugged Kanbei tightly, whispering one last time for him to not worry about him and saying "I love you, I love you." Then Kanbei was escorted out and the door was closed. 

Hanbei watched the door as if willing it to open again and Kanbei to be on the other side. The door creaked open a bit and for a moment Hanbei's heart leapt, but instead of Kanbei, the mayor's wife Nene stepped into the room, one of her hands clenched in a fist.

"Lady Nene," Hanbei greeted her, nodding towards her. 

"You know they let you wear one thing from your district in the arena. Kanbei wanted me to give you this to wear. He didn't have time to give it to you, but it would mean a lot to him if you could wear it." She opened her hand to show an iridescent ring, shining a dark purple, almost black, in one lighting and a bright blue in another. 

"A ring?" Hanbei took it in his hands. He slipped it onto his ring finger and stared at it. It was truly beautiful. 

"He loves you so much," Nene replied. "You're lucky to have him." She smiled sadly, and it was if she was just suddenly gone, darting out the door as quickly as she had entered. 

Hanbei was then led to the train that would take him to the Capitol. Tama was there, holding her father's hand. Her tears had subsided, but her eyes were red and puffy. Hanbei wondered if she had anyone to say goodbye to. 


	2. the mentor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm writing this for one (1) person really but that's ok because you're vv cool 😎💞 also for anyone in the future that stumbles across this fandom and is going through the tag haha

The train was much more fancy than anything Hanbei had ever seen in his life. Everyone got their own private rooms, with luxuries like hot and cold running water and drawers of pretty clothes. There was a shower with multiple shower products at the user's disposal. Hanbei spent at least ten minutes just exploring the room. After all, he could do what he wanted as long as he was in the dining room for dinner in an hour. 

_What would Kanbei think of_ _this?_ Hanbei thought in disgust as he held up one of the many products of the Capitol's strange fashions. It was a bright yellow tunic with numerous triangle in neon colors and flowing sleeves. He tried to imagine him wearing it and laughed out loud. _He would hate this so much._

_What's Kanbei thinking about right now?_ was Hanbei's next thought as he slipped into the shower. He imagined the rest of District 12, celebrating that they had not been reaped as they did every year. Kanbei would probably be sitting in the house, curtains closed, holding Aiko in his lap. Would he eat the strawberries Hanbei had brought back? Would he eat dinner at all? Hanbei had seen the families of tributes who were sure to not come home. They would hide away until they had to come out to watch the Games on live TV, then hide away again.

He twisted the ring around on his finger. It glinted in the sunlight from a nearby window, shining a bright blue color. 

_"He loves you so much.You're lucky to have him."_

"I'm lucky to have even met him," Hanbei said aloud to the room. "It was funny how we met, really."

It had been. Hanbei's friends had dared him to speak to "Kanbei, the scary guy that always stood near the market" and Hanbei had accepted the dare. He had strolled over to Kanbei, exuding more confidence than he felt that he really had. 

_"What are you waiting around here for?" he asked. Kanbei blinked at him and looked around, as if expecting someone else to be accompanying Hanbei._

_"Where are your parents?"_

_Hanbei's eyes widened in shock. "Ex-CUSE me," he said, "I'm an adult. Where's your granddaughter and grandson, huh? Appearances can be deceiving, you know."_

_"What makes you think I'm not old?" Kanbei asked him. Hanbei scrutinized him carefully, then said, "Well, you don't stand like an old person. Old people kind of hunch over, even if it's really slightly. You're standing like I usually would. And don't tell me 'i'm just a really fit old person' because no one here is fit. How are we supposed to be?"_

_Kanbei smiled, seemingly amused. "You are certainly observant. Is that your only reason?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Well, I suppose I must enlighten you with the fact that you are correct. I'm not old. I just look it."_

_"Weird." Hanbei shrugged. "Now are you gonna answer my question? What are you waiting around here for? After all, there isn't much at the market today." He looked around at the stalls. Most of them were empty except for the lonely shopkeeper._

_"If you must know, I'm waiting for the stall over there to open up so I can get strawberries."_

_"You don't have to wait! Come with me to the Hob. There are probably strawberries there, and it's always open. Haven't you ever been? We just need something to trade." Hanbei tugged on Kanbei's sleeve. "It's fun there! It may seem scary, but everyone there is really nice. Sometimes the mayor's wife is there with her sons and they give me blueberries."_

"Hanbei? It's dinner time," Nō's voice called from the other side of the door to his room. Hanbei jumped, startled, then yelled back, "I'll be there in a second!" 

He turned off the shower and quickly dried off, then changed back into his clothes. He didn't trust the strange Capitol fashions to make him look like something other than a fool. 

* * *

"Hanbei, you're eating so much. You must save some room for the next course," Nō laughed. "I suppose Tama has had her share of food all her life, considering her father was a victor. Isn't that right, Tama?"

Tama gave a little nod. 

"Speaking of which, where is Mitsuhide?" Hanbei asked, grabbing another piece of bread. "I thought he was going to eat with us."

"He's tired," Tama said quietly. "He wants to rest."

"He always wants to rest," Nō replied, rolling her eyes. "You know, I heard your father was once a very bright young man. Quiet, yes, but much more cheerful too. When I started working as an escort, I thought I would get to see that man." She sighed. "Turns out all I got was that emotionless shell."

"Father has a lot on his mind."

There was a period of awkward silence in which Tama and Nō stared each other down from across the table. Hanbei tried to eat as silently as possible. It was difficult, however, when he was eating cracker bread. 

Nō quickly changed the subject when the main course was brought out, roasted stuffed turkey with potato wedges. "You know, the potato wedges are really the best part of this dish, I think," she said as soon as she saw Hanbei reaching for some. "But you can't stuff yourself full with them, of course. There's still dessert afterwards, and you will want room for that. I heard it's a chocolate mousse cake."

Hanbei had no idea what a "chocolate moose cake" was, but it must have been a luxury dish if it was something Capitol citizens knew of. All of the cakes in District 12 were usually small and sugar-free, since sugar was very hard to come by, even at the Hob. 

"I'll go get Father, then. He won't want to miss dessert," Tama said, standing up and pushing in her chair. "I'm sure he'll be excited to hear what we're having." She was staring pointedly at Nō as she left the room. 

* * *

After the dinner, Nō lead the three of them to another compartment to watch the other reapings in Panem. Hanbei sat down gingerly on the couch, feeling nauseous. His stomach wasn't used to such rich food. But he was determined not to throw up. He had eaten things much worse than this, like tree bark and nearly rotted animal meat, and he had held that fine. 

As the recap of the reapings progressed(with infuriating commentary, too), Hanbei kept track of the tributes that stuck with him the most. Most of the districts had boring looking tributes, so he only remembered a handful. 

One of District 1's tributes was a pretty, almost feminine looking boy with dark hair, who instantly ran forward to volunteer before the escort could even pull a name out of the glass ball. The commentator slipped in a comment that he had been the supposed boyfriend of Nobunaga, and volunteered every year to try to win in his honor. "Obviously this is the first time he's actually gotten picked out of the many volunteers," the commentator stated. "He was quick enough this time. I can't imagine what he's going to do to try and win." 

That comment made Mitsuhide start to shake uncontrollably, and Nō had to summon one of the Capitol servants to escort him to bed. Hanbei heard the sound of vomiting in the hall not long after Mitsuhide left the room. 

In District 2, a peppy girl with a wide grin who refused to give her real name and was simply addressed as "Kunoichi" was accompanied by a brunette boy with a red headband who ran forward to volunteer with her. They held hands during the reaping and walked off the stage together. 

District 6 brought forward a very young girl with long dark hair and an unusually beautiful blue dress for someone who lived in a relatively poor district. She seemed unwilling to part with her red-haired friend in the crowd, but no one volunteered to take her place, and she was forced to stand onstage, quaking with fear. She reminded Hanbei of Tama, looking afraid and alone. 

The District 11 male tribute was a dirty-blonde haired boy who seemed to keep the same small smile on his face the entire time. When they called for volunteers, his brothers both shouted out, but the boy waved them off, refusing to let them take his place. 

Lastly, they showed District 12. They showed Tama, hiding behind her father in fear, and Hanbei, running forward to take Kanbei's place. Hanbei could hear a mixture of determination and desperation in his voice, not afraid of what he was getting into and yet afraid they would take Kanbei away anyway. One of the commentators raved about "how romantic the gesture was." After that, the TV cut to showing the symbol of Panem and the anthem started to play, signaling the end of the recap.

"An interesting batch of tributes this year," Nō said conversationally. "I'd love to discuss them, but unfortunately you should probably get some sleep. We'll be in the Capitol tomorrow, and you'll be meeting your stylists and doing your chariot ride to the Training Center. It'll be a big day tomorrow!"

"I should check on Father." Tama stood up and slipped silently from the room. Hanbei quickly excused himself, too, leaving Nō alone on the velvet couch. 

* * *

Hanbei was awoken in the middle of the night by a rapid pounding on his door. 

_Who in their right mind would be awake at this hour?_ he thought as he stumbled out of bed to answer it. 

" _What_ _?!_ " he demanded rather rudely as he opened the door, and almost regretting his tone immediately. Tama was standing there, looking panicked, and she jumped back a little at his exclamation.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But Father's having a really bad nightmare or something and I don't know what to do! I'm usually able to help him but I can't! I won't bother you again but please help me!" she blurted out in a rush. 

Hanbei blinked, taking in what she had just said. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, then said, "What makes you think I can help?"

"Well... I don't think Nō would be willing to help. She's rude to him. Please! I promise I won't bother you again about it, I really promise!"

She looked so frightened and pleading that Hanbei sighed and replied, "Fine." 

At once, Tama grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and dragged him down the hall, nearly making him lose his balance. The two of them hurried to Mitsuhide's room, Tama whispering something quickly under her breath. 

Once there, threw the door open and quickly shut it, and Hanbei knew why. Although the rooms were soundproof when the doors were shut, leaving the doors open meant you could hear anything happening inside. And it was definitely loud in here. Mitsuhide was laying in bed, curled into a tight ball, shaking and yelling incoherent streams of what were probably supposed to be words at the top of his lungs. 

"Earlier he was thrashing around lots and he woke me up," Tama said. "I thought before that if I slept in the room with him, it would calm him, but it doesn't." 

That would explain the small makeshift bed on the floor. 

"What do you usually do to calm him down?" Hanbei asked. 

"I tried everything! I tried to wake up him but he won't, and I tried singing for him, hoping he'd hear it in his nightmare and it would help. But he's screaming too loud, and I don't think he can hear me! I don't know what else to do!" 

Hanbei searched his brain for what he could do. When Kanbei had a really bad nightmare, Hanbei usually just hugged him tightly until he calmed down. He didn't know how well that would work, but he had to try. There was nothing else to do. 

Climbing into the bed so Mitsuhide's back was to him, he wrapped his arms around him as best he could. He traced circles on Mitsuhide's arm with his finger, hoping that would bring him back to earth. It took a long while, but slowly Mitsuhide started to calm down. Hanbei could see the sun started to come up from behind the curtains. How long had he been here?

"I think he's okay now," he whispered to Tama, sitting up. "I don't think you should wake him, though. Just let him rest."

"Okay. Thank you."

* * *

At breakfast a few hours later, Hanbei was surprised to find Mitsuhide turning to him and saying, "My daughter told me about what happened last night. I wanted to thank you."

"Oh. Well, uh, you're welcome I suppose." To be honest, Hanbei wasn't even sure if Mitsuhide could talk. He had never heard him do it before. "You were really out of it last night. If it's not rude to ask, is it always like that?"

"No." It sounded more like he wanted to say "Yes" but couldn't admit it, so Hanbei didn't push the matter any further. Instead he said, "So you're supposed to be our mentor, yeah? You give us advice and help us get sponsors and stuff. Do you have any advice for us to keep in mind?"

"No."

"Not even to stay alive?"

"You're not."

"What do you mean 'you're not?' You don't even think we stand a fighting chance? Your daughter is in the room and you're not even going to give her a bit of hope or encouragement?"

"Mitsuhide, you act like this every year," Nō cut in before anyone could say anything else. "Since your daughter is on the list of tributes you could at least give her and her fellow tribute some kind of advice. If not now, then in the Training Center. I suggest everyone _eat_ instead of fighting like children, because these two will be meeting their stylists soon. No one likes a cranky tribute, after all." 

"No one likes a shitty parent and mentor, either," Hanbei retorted. "I made a promise to stay alive. If I can't keep that promise I have to at least try. But you're no help."

"Don't say that about Father!" Tama cried, standing up. "You're just mean. You're both mean! You don't know what it's like to be him, you don't know what it was like!"

"And you do?"

"He's told me more than he's told _you_ , you stupid piece of—"

"Tama, don't get involved," Mitsuhide hissed. 

"But Father—" 

"Now, now, everyone needs to _calm down_. You aren't going to make a good impression if you're fighting with each other already. Mitsuhide, I think you should give them some advice. Hanbei and Tama, you need to stop arguing. I'm not going to be able to play mother for you in the arena, so you need to cut it out." Nō stared down each of them in turn, looking them directly in the eyes. Immediately, the train car suddenly went dark. At first Hanbei thought Nō did something, but then he realized the train was just going through the tunnel that ran through the mountains to the Capitol. He shot Mitsuhide a glare, but didn't provoke anyone any further.

* * *

"My wife and I have been designing these outfits for you and the girl since the day of the Reaping," Hanbei's stylist, Nagamasa, said with an air of pride. "I think you'll like them. They are much more unique than the outfits of the previous tributes of 12. We wanted you both to be representing the people of District 12, specifically the ones important to you. As you volunteered for what I assume is your husband—" he gestured to the ring on Hanbei's finger, "—we decided to design an outfit that was representing the two of you together, joined in heart. It is also matching with the girl's dress, so you two look like a pair, but also different as well."

_He and his wife must be huge romantics,_ Hanbei thought, remembering the commentator who thought Hanbei's volunteering was one of the most beautiful things they had ever seen. 

"Now then, I think you should like to see the outfit before dressing, just to make sure it is to your liking. Of course, I can't make huge changes since your chariot ride is today, but I can fix anything minor you don't like. Follow me."

Nagamasa lead Hanbei into a separate room with two mannequins, one with Tama's outfit and one with Hanbei's. Both outfits had flowing see-through sleeves dyed a gradient of black and dark purple, with black cargo pants and heeled dark purple boots. That was where the similarities stopped. Hanbei's shirt was tight around the neck and buttoned with gold buttons in the shape of arrowheads, and he had a short dark cape with golden accents. Tama's shirt was strapless with a teal choker around her neck. She had golden buttons, too, but they were shaped like tiny swords. 

"I know they are a little simpler than the other outfits the stylists will be designing for the other districts," Nagamasa said apologetically, "but we thought that simple but impactful would be the way to go. The audience will recognize that these outfits represent the ones you love— in your case, your husband and in the girl's case, her father— and not representative of your district's industry of coal. An outfit of coal would seem too cliche, don't you think? Do you want to make any changes?"

Hanbei stared at the outfit, thinking. He could see where Kanbei's inspiration had come in: the cape was similar to his flowing sleeves, as were the sleeves itself. He also wore outfits with gold accents, which Nagamasa had incorporated perfectly. He had not been expecting an outfit this impressive, on the contrary, he had been dreading having to wear a coal miner's outfit with a headlamp. 

"I like it," he said, "I think Tama will like hers too."

"Great! Now all that's left to do is dress you both up and then do your makeup. That will take a long time, but don't worry, the chariot ride isn't for a while. Now, we should get started."

* * *

A few hours later, Hanbei was completely dressed up and waiting at the Remake Center, also known as "the stable with the horses and chariots." Nagamasa and his wife, Oichi directed Hanbei and Tama into the chariot that would be pulled by great black horses with sparkling bridles, then fixed any minor errors on the outfits, as well as posing them. 

"Here, hold this flower," Oichi said, shoving a fake black rose into Hanbei's hand. "Now hold your arm out in front of you, but bend your arm a little so it's not sticking out like a flag. Bend your wrist a little, too. Okay, now have your other arm kind of out, your palm facing down. Make your arm kind of loose. Now cross one leg in front of the other slightly, and have your toes pointing out. Yes, like that!"

Hanbei felt like a fool. He looked over at Tama and found that she had to actually balance on one leg. She had to have her hand on his shoulder to steady herself. 

_This is stupid_.

"This is beautiful! The crowd will love you! Now just remember, smile and wave with your free hand! Don't look so stiff, Tama, no one wants to look at a statue entering the Training Center. You aren't made of stone, you're a human and you have the ability to love, like your outfit shows. Now your chariots will be getting in line soon, so you can see the other tributes, but _don't move too much!_ See you later!"

Oichi and Nagamasa waved as the chariot with Hanbei and Tama in it began to move forward. The door to the outside showed that the sky was just beginning to darken a lovely twilight blue, and some stars were beginning to show. As the District 11 tributes finished their circle around the city, the District 12 chariot started to roll forwards out into the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowie! this was fun to write, though coming up with designs for the clothes was h a r d sdjksfdljk


	3. the training center

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> call me a weirdo but while writing i was listening to videos of chronicle mode events on loop  
>  ~~listening to characters' voices is like, really relaxing haha 😅~~
> 
> anyway a tip for yall is to write in comic sans because the cursedness of the font brings out all of the writing you never knew you had
> 
> also school has started which means i can't update as frequently but i dedicate a lot of my time to doing this anyway so fuck you school :)

The Training Center was one of the largest buildings Hanbei had ever seen. After all, it was supposed to house the tributes, their mentors, their escorts, and their stylists until the Games. It was so large it needed an elevator to get from one floor to the next. Hanbei supposed stairs were too much effort for those from Capitol, but he wasn't complaining. He hadn't ridden an elevator before except for one time, in the Justice Building the day before. 

"We have a whole floor to ourselves. Isn't that wonderful? No one is able to bother us except each other," Nō laughed as they traveled up to the twelfth floor. "Though I'm sure none of us will be a bother."

* * *

Hanbei's room was even larger than his room in the train car. There were about a million buttons, each for different automatic gadgets. The closet could program an outfit. The shower could regulate water temperature and pressure. The window could zoom in and out on whatever he wanted. Hanbei played around with all the buttons he could, as if he were a little kid. Then he remembered that little kids in the Capitol got these kinds of luxuries all the time. They were probably tired of all these buttons. 

“Hanbei, get over here before the food gets cold!” Nō yelled from the dining room. Hanbei jumped and hurried away from all of the numerous buttons, not wanting to be late. Though he doubted that such lavish food _could_ get cold. 

“You’re still in your chariot outfit!” Oichi giggled, seated at one of the many chairs surrounding the large table. Hanbei looked down at his clothes. She was right. He had been too distracted to notice earlier. 

“Don’t worry about that, it looks great. Sit down, sit down.” Nagamasa forced Hanbei into a chair right next to Tama, who scowled and scooted as far away from him as she could while still sitting in her chair. Mitsuhide just sighed.

“Now, this dinner is also supposed to be one of the ‘planning stages’ if you will,” Nō said, speaking as everyone else dug into their dinner of bitter salad, slices of finely cooked ham, and a rich apple pie. “Your mentor is to come up with a few strategies for you to execute, whether that be during your interviews, when the Gamemakers review your skills, during the Games, etcetera. I think we have a fairly promising group this year.”

Hanbei was sure she was lying through her teeth when she said that, because he wasn’t sure Tama knew how to defend herself. He knew how to fire an arrow pretty well, but that wasn’t going to do much against a sneaky-looking female ninja with literal knives in her sleeves or the vengeful pretty-boy who _definitely_ wanted bloodshed. 

“Hanbei,” Mitsuhide said suddenly, pointing at him over the table with his fork, “You know how to hunt, yes?”

“Huh? Uh…” Admitting that he illegally hunted in the presence of the Capitol would be suicide. 

“He does,” Tama reluctantly added. “I saw him one time last summer. He set five traps and caught five rabbits, and he shot a wild dog in the eye.”

“It was not in the eye, it was in the cheek. And I only got four rabbits,” Hanbei argued.

“Are you trying to downplay yourself, you dummy?”

“Tama, please. Now, if you can shoot with a bow and arrow, I think that will be an effective skill to impress the Gamemakers with. If you stay in positions where you can easily shoot tributes, that would be ideal, but of course you can’t do that. You’ll have to learn close combat, too.” 

Hanbei looked shocked. That was not only advice, but the most he had ever heard Mitsuhide say. Indeed, after that Mitsuhide looked strangely sick, as if it was a burden for him to talk. 

Nō grinned. “Mitsuhide, that’s the first time I heard you give advice to a tribute! Hanbei, you might have a bit of a chance this year.” 

“What about Tama?” Oichi asked, eying the wide-eyed girl. “What can she do?”

All eyes traveled to Tama, who looked down at her napkin in her lap. 

“Nothing,” she mumbled. “I’ve never learned how to defend myself. I didn’t think I’d need to.”

Hanbei heard Nō suck in a breath through her teeth and murmur, “Well, there goes that one.” Oichi and Nagamasa looked at her sympathetically. Mitsuhide awkwardly placed his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. She had resigned herself with the fact that she had no chance.

“I’ll teach you,” Hanbei said at once, standing up. All eyes turned to him instead. “I’ll teach you just as I was taught. Plus, we’re going to the Training Center tomorrow, aren’t we? I’ll show you how to set snares, and we can both learn how to throw knives together.” 

Tama looked up at him, her eyes shining.

“Really? You’ll teach me?” she asked, pointing at herself.

“Why not? We might as well stick together. Who else do we have?”

* * *

The elevator doors opened to a large gymnasium full of weapons, obstacle courses, and even a large computer screen. A large number 12 was pinned to the back of Tama and Hanbei’s clothes, then they were pushed to join the circle of other tributes. Unfortunately, they were made to stand next to the feminine District 1 boy, who glared daggers at Tama until the head trainer, a small woman with soft brown eyes named Naotora, began to speak. 

“Sorry to keep the rest of you waiting,” she said in her high voice. “But now that you two are here, I think I will explain the training schedule. These stations each have different purposes. Some are for survival, some are for combat. For example, there is the plant matching station, where you must match edible plants and non edible plants. There is also the knife station where you learn to throw knives. You are free to travel to whatever station you like. Experts are provided to assist you.”

Hanbei looked around, particularly at the District 1 and 2 tributes, and knew instantly they would not need the help of experts. The other districts called the four of them Career tributes, and they trained their entire lives to fight. Unlike Tama and many of the others, they were not weak or unknowledgeable when it came to weapon training. Hanbei would have to help her a lot for Tama to even stand a small chance.

“Let’s go to the knife throwing station first. I think you’d be good at that,” Hanbei said, tugging Tama’s arm. She chewed on her sleeve and nodded, hurrying over with him. The expert was watching Kunoichi, the District 2 female, throw knives at the targets and hit a bullseye every time. She turned to see who else was watching her and smiled, but it was more of a smirk than anything. 

“Aw, you’re cute,” she said in a condescending sort of way, staring at Tama. “You look like a little girl accompanying her brother to a sporting event. Unfortunately, this is a life or death kind of thing. I doubt you’ll even make it past the Bloodbath.” She playfully traced the blunt end of her knife on Tama’s nose.

“Leave her alone,” Hanbei replied, standing in front of Tama. “You have no business acting like an ass to her.”

“Just saying.” Kunoichi strode away, elbowing him hard in the shoulder. “But you won’t survive to go home to your little boyfriend, either!”

“HE’S MY FIANCE!” Hanbei shouted at her back, but she ignored him. He turned back to Tama, who looked a mixture of confused and afraid. “Sorry about that. Alright, let’s do this.”

As the expert helped Tama out with the knife throwing, Hanbei took a good look around at the other tributes. Many of them were beginners as well, struggling to wield a sword or throw a spear. The tribute that caught his eyes was from the boy from District 11 at the nearest station. Despite his fairly long and loose clothing, he was climbing the fake trees and leaping from branch to branch silently as if it were the easiest thing in the world. 

“You’re watching Takakage?” Tama asked, silently appearing at Hanbei’s side. He jumped, startled.

“How do you know his name?” he asked.

“I’m magic. You idiot, they announced it during the Reaping!” Tama answered. “District 11’s agriculture or something. I think they harvest food. He must be good at climbing trees to collect fruit and things.”

Takakage must have noticed the two watching him, because he climbed down from the tree and walked over to them, his hands clasped behind his back.

“You are the District 12 tributes, aren’t you?” he asked, a pleasant smile on his face. “I remember you both from the recap of the Reaping. That was a most admirable sacrifice, Hanbei.” 

“Thanks,” Hanbei replied. “I vaguely remember you. You… you smile a lot.”

“Do I?” Takakage laughed a little. “Well, I suppose I don’t notice then. My father did always say I was a much more cheerful child. But I was shy, like her.” He nodded to Tama, who stiffened a little and held Hanbei’s sleeve in a tight grip. “Don’t be afraid. I really mean no harm.” 

_He certainly doesn’t look the part of “harmful,”_ Hanbei thought. Up close, Takakage looked like he would be only thirteen or fourteen years old, even younger than he did during the Reaping, where his age was announced as seventeen. 

“Glad to meet you,” Hanbei finally said. He and Takakage shook hands politely, then parted. 

“He looked nice. Why didn’t you invite him to train with us?” Tama asked as the two of them headed over to the spear throwing station. 

“We can’t trust anyone,” Hanbei told her warningly. 

“He’s from District 11! I know it’s mean to say, but I don’t think he could hurt us. District 11 is poor.”

“District 12 is poor, too, and yet I can shoot a bow and arrow with great accuracy.”

“Don’t brag.”

“You hyped me up last night!”

“That was because Father suggested it, you big stupid bi-”

“Isn’t that language too foul for a girl your age?”

Hanbei and Tama whipped around to see the pretty boy of District 1, wielding a sword in his hands. He slashed at the training dummy and it was cut into perfectly even fourths in a matter of seconds. The dummy fell to the floor with four loud thunks. 

“Whatever you’re going to do, _leave it_ ,” Hanbei hissed at him, grabbing Tama’s hand and pulling her closer to him. The boy ignored him and stepped closer to Tama, pointing the sword threateningly at her.

“You're not very lucky, being the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, aren’t you?” he whispered. “But it is unfortunate we can’t fight here, otherwise you’d be dead before the Games even started. Don’t think that you’re safe with _Hanbei_ , Tama.”

“Shut up! What did I ever do to you?” Tama’s shrill voice echoed throughout the Training Center, making everyone look up and watch the three of them.

“Ranmaru!” Naotora ran over to them and stood between him and Hanbei. “I’m sorry, but fighting in the Training Center is not allowed. Besides, this poor girl has nothing to do with what her father did to Nobunaga. You should know better than to frighten her!” 

“Her _father_ should have known better than to kill Nobunaga,” Ranmaru snarled, but he backed off and went to accompany the District 2 duo at the knot tying station. Naotora turned around and stared Tama directly in the eyes.

“You’ll want to be careful around him, I think,” she said in a serious tone (or as serious as her voice could get) before walking away. 

Tama and Hanbei both looked over at Ranmaru. He had tied a knot so tightly it snapped.

* * *

On the second day in the Training Center, Hanbei and Tama decided to part ways until lunch to see how well Tama could do on her own. Hanbei headed to the archery station and tried a few of the bows, settling on a sleek black one with gold string, and fired three arrows towards the three targets grouped together. Two of them hit the bullseye, while one of them landed a little farther than the center.

“You’re a special one,” said a voice from behind him. It was the District 6 girl. She looked like a human sized doll, with her round face, large sparkling eyes, long dark hair, and pretty dress. “You know how to use a weapon? Unless you are a Career, it’s practically unheard of.”

“Well, I do the hunting for me and my fiance,” Hanbei explained, drawing another arrow and firing it at the third target, landing the bullseye this time. 

“Ah, you are the one who volunteered.” the girl said. “That was brave of you. I’m sure you saw at the Reaping that I was very scared. Not like you.”

She smiled at him, then suddenly bounded away on light feet, like she was a small fairy. She certainly didn’t show any of the nervousness she showed during the Reaping. In fact, she almost looked cheerful.

Hanbei turned and looked around for Tama, hoping she wasn’t being confronted by Ranmaru. To his relief, she was at the plant station with Takakage.

 _She decided to trust him after all,_ Hanbei thought, smiling in spite of himself. At least she didn’t seem as shy anymore.

* * *

On the third day of training, the Gamemakers called each tribute for a private session to show off their skills and get their skills. Ranmaru, being the District 1 male tribute, was first, and he strode off to meet the Gamemakers, exuding confidence. 

The tributes did not return afterwards. Slowly, the tributes trickled out of the room. When Hanbei was called, he didn’t leave immediately, but turned to Tama instead.

“What will you show them?” he asked her.

She swallowed nervously, but then answered, “My knife throwing. I can almost hit a bullseye. I can also match up plants.”

“Good. You can do it, okay?”

She nodded, waving a little as he left the room. 

The Gamemakers were seated at a table, looking utterly bored. Hanbei knew that they weren’t going to pay attention to him, as they were tired of seeing countless tributes and their less than remarkable skills. A few of them were eying the dinner set out in front of them, rather than watching Hanbei himself. 

He grabbed the black bow with the golden string, along with the arrows, positioned three in his bow, then shot the three targets lined up like he had done the previous day. All three hit the bullseye. 

Turning back, Hanbei saw a few Gamemakers nodding their approval, but most weren’t even looking at him. He didn’t blame them. He’d be tired as well.

* * *

“How did you do?” Nō asked as Hanbei entered the living room later. Hanbei shrugged. 

“I don’t know. I shot three arrows and hit a bullseye-” Nagamasa and Oichi both “oohed” and applauded him, “-but they didn’t really pay attention. I just hope Tama gets some attention, you know.”

“You are growing awfully fond of the little girl lately. Ever since you offered to train with her, she sticks with you like some kind of leech. Mitsuhide, didn’t you say she talks about him often at night during bedtime?”

Mitsuhide nodded. “She sees you as the brother she never had.”

The brother she never had? Hanbei didn’t know about that. He never thought he acted particularly brotherly towards her, but apparently he had at some point and didn’t realize. 

“She shouldn’t get attached. I’m probably going to die, you know,” he said.

“Don’t say that to her,” Mitsuhide warned him. “She’s never had someone like you in her life.”

“She has you,” Hanbei replied, surprised. Mitsuhide shook his head. 

“I couldn’t be there for her, emotionally at least. I think she likes that she has you to rely on.” 

“She’s really not a bad child,” Nō admitted. “Her naivety is slightly annoying, but then again she means no harm. She’s young. Most tributes her age would be shunned by the older tributes and taken down in seconds.”

Hanbei thought back to all the times a young child had been reaped. It was true. The longest one to survive didn’t even survive the night after being killed by a Career. He shuddered at the thought of Tama being brutally murdered at Ranmaru’s hands. 

The door slid open and Tama walked into the room, looking murderous. 

“I threw a knife at the Gamemakers and it cut one of them on the shoulder,” she announced to the entire room. 

There was silence for a moment before Mitsuhide said, “You did _what_?”

“I didn’t mean to hit one of them! I just threw it! They refused to pay attention to me! I yelled at them and I said they were stupid for not paying attention to me just because I’m from District 12 and I’m a kid! They shouldn’t count me out!” Tama retorted. “They can’t get me in trouble. They can’t tell anyone what I did.”

“Yes, but that was a foolish thing to do,” her father replied. “The Gamemakers will probably be very angr-”

“I don’t care what they think! I’ll prove all of them wrong later!” 

Tama looked ready to throw a fit, her fists clenched at her sides and her face flushed red. 

“We talked about this, Tama. You need to stop acting up.”

Tama stomped over to where her father was sitting on the couch and slapped him in the face. It left a red mark on his cheek, and Oichi actually gasped out loud. 

“Just shut up! You don’t know anything! You don’t care about me or what I do, you just want me to be a perfect daughter and not feel what I feel so it’s easier for you!” she shouted. “You don’t want to help me, you don’t care enough to help me! You like Hanbei more, and you can’t deny it because it’s true!” 

Tama then stalked out of the room, but her footsteps sounded like she had broken into a run. Hanbei looked around and saw no one seemed concerned about her. The other three were crowding around Mitsuhide and tending to his burning cheek. Hanbei was able to slip out of the room without anyone noticing, then he too broke into a run to Tama’s room.

“Tama, open up!” he called, knocking on her door. “It’s just me, Hanbei! It’s okay, I- oOF!”

Tama had thrown the door open and practically threw herself onto him, crying into his chest and tightly wrapping her arms around him. 

“Tama, it’s okay,” Hanbei said, lowering his voice and trying to sound soothing and calm. “I know you didn’t mean it.” 

“B-but I did,” she sobbed, hiccuping slightly. “I d-did but I feel b-bad now, but I can’t say sorry because he does like you m-more…”

He uncurled her arms from around his waist and cupped her face in his hands. Looking her in the eyes, he said softly,”Tama, you didn’t mean it. From the bottom of your heart, I know you love your father. You might think you meant those things, but you didn’t, you truly didn’t. And your dad doesn’t like me more than he likes you. That’s silly. You’re his kid, not me. He told me he wanted to be there more for you, but he couldn’t.”

“B-but you’re brave, and b-better than me-”

“No. You are just as brave. You’re trying your best and making an effort to win even if you think you can’t. That’s bravery.”

Tama sniffled and rubbed her eyes. She looked a lot younger when she cried, which only made her look smaller and sadder. Hanbei smiled a little and ruffled her hair. 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s not angry with you. You’ll be alright.”

“What if he _is_ angry?”

“Then I’ll vouch for you,” Hanbei promised. “I’ll say you didn’t mean it, and it was just your emotions that got the best of you, or something. But I’m sure he won’t be. He loves you, more than me. After all, I’m not his daughter.”

Hanbei slowly coaxed her out of the hall and back into the living room, where Mitsuhide was sitting on the couch, his face in his hands. Nō, Oichi, and Nagamasa seemed to have left to go to their rooms instead of staying. 

“Father…” Tama hesitated. Hanbei squeezed her hand reassuringly, and she left his side to sit with Mitsuhide on the couch. 

“I’m sorry for hitting you,” she said in a small voice, laying a hand on his arm. “Father, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean what I said.”

She squeaked as her father suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. Hanbei decided to leave, to give them a moment, and the last thing he heard before he left the room was “Tama, I should be sorry for making you feel like I didn’t care about you.”

* * *

After a slightly awkward but mostly silent dinner, everyone went to watch the scores given out by the Gamemakers on the TV. Hanbei felt his stomach lurch when he remembered what Tama did in her private session, and hoped that she wasn’t given a bad score she didn’t deserve. 

_She wasn’t_ purposefully _trying to hit the Gamemakers, so she won’t get in trouble or get a bad score, right?_

The tribute’s picture, their district number, and their score were posted on the screen. The Career tributes all got somewhere between 7 and 10, with Ranmaru scoring the highest at 10, and his tribute partner scoring the lowest at a 7. The doll-like girl from 6 got a score of 4. Takakage had been able to score a 7.

“Hanbei, you got an 8! Not bad,” Nō commented, as Hanbei’s picture flashed on screen, along with a large white number 8. Hanbei barely paid attention, holding in a breath as Tama’s picture was shown on the screen, then the large white number. 

“Well, what were we supposed to expect?” Tama finally said, a smile on her face although her voice was shaking a little. “After what I did during my private session? It’s not a bad thing, really!”

Hanbei stared at the large white number 1 on the screen. He could almost hear the laughter of the Career tributes, how they would make fun of Tama for scoring so low. 

“A 1?” they’d cackle. “There’s no way she’ll survive a second into the Games!”

“It’s not an accurate measure of my skill,” Tama went on. “It’s just that I threw a knife at them, because I was mad! And they can’t tell anyone outside of the Training Center, right? What I did?”

“They can’t, but Tama, everyone knows your score now,” Nō said matter-of-factly. “Everyone knows you got a 1, and there’s nothing you can do.”

“Isn’t there?” Hanbei asked. Everyone’s heads turned to him. “In the interview. She can easily sway the public’s opinion if she does well during the interview tomorrow, right?”

Nō blinked and started muttering to herself, thinking. 

“I suppose,” she finally replied. 

Hanbei clasped his hands together and walked over to Mitsuhide.

“Perhaps we should start preparing for that, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i originally wanted to add the interview to this chapter, but i thought it best to make another one dedicated to that and have that be the entrance to the arena at the end of that one
> 
> if that makes sense
> 
> anyway byeeee <3


	4. the interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooh boy kanbei pov time! with a new character from 12 bc yes
> 
> i'm making hideyori appear since he's hideyoshi's kid and he looks like he does in the anime,, he's a real cute boyo and he looks like [this](https://i.postimg.cc/cJLWWQCK/sengoku-musou-ep-7-2.jpg)  
> 

_ He was sitting in the grass. Why was he in the grass? _

_ Kanbei stood up and looked around. It was the grass in the woods where Hanbei often went hunting. He wondered if Hanbei was here, too.  _

_ A surprisingly loud rustling in the bushes nearby caught his attention, and a dark-haired boy’s head popped out. It was Hanbei, and he was smiling brightly.  _

_ “Kanbei! Come over here and look at what I found!” Hanbei gestured towards himself, then quickly withdrew back into the bushes. Kanbei took a few slow steps, then broke into a run towards the bush. Hanbei would be there, waiting for him, right? _

_ “Kanbei!” Hanbei’s voice called again. The bushes seemed to never end, and Hanbei’s voice seemed to be falling farther and farther away. It echoed in Kanbei’s ears. The sharp leaves felt like they were cutting into his skin, yet still he pressed on. He had to see Hanbei.  _

_ The playful calls suddenly turned into distressed shrieks.  _

_ “KANBEI!”  _

_ Then there was a long, drawn out scream that made the bushes move against Kanbei, like ocean waves pushing against him as he tried to get to Hanbei. He had to find him, to save him, to make sure he would be alright. _

_ Kanbei pushed through more bushes and tripped over something, landing on his face in the grass. The grass here was strangely wet and red and smelled of iron.  _

_ Someone walked next to him. Kanbei looked up, expecting to see Hanbei’s face, but all he saw was a strange person, their eyes and nose blurred out in gray, the mouth turned upwards in a mocking smile.  _

_ Kanbei turned around, looking to see what he tripped over, and felt like he was going to be sick. It was Hanbei’s body he had tripped on. His head was bleeding and he had a trickle of blood running from his nose. His clothes were dirty with sweat and more blood.  _

_ The strange person stepped close to Hanbei, laying on the ground. Kneeling next to him, they pulled out a knife with a shining silver blade. _

_ Hanbei looked over and saw Kanbei, and his mouth turned upwards in an oddly bright smile. He held out his hand, and Kanbei reached toward it, almost touching his fingers.  _

_ “Kanb--” _

_ Hanbei was cut off as he was stabbed in the gut, coughing up blood. His hand fell limp, and his fingers curled a little, but then went still. His dark eyes were wide and unseeing, even as they stared into Kanbei’s face.  _

_ “Hanbei,” Kanbei croaked as he leaned over to shake Hanbei, as if to wake him from a deep sleep. “Hanbei, wake  _ up _.”  _

But it was Kanbei who woke up instead. 

Everything was normal. The sunlight still streamed through the windows, the water still dripped from the leaking faucet that never worked, the food he hadn’t eaten last night was still on his nightstand.

The only thing that was different was that Hanbei’s side of the bed was cold. 

If this ever happened, Kanbei usually never had to worry. Hanbei sometimes got up early to make breakfast if it was a special day (like a birthday), or sometimes he just rolled out of bed during his sleep and fell on the floor. 

“Kanbei, can we put the doormat by my side of the bed? The floor is too hard,” Hanbei would whine after waking up at some ungodly hour.

“No,” Kanbei would say, probably half-asleep, “the doormat is for the door.” 

Hanbei would pout, but would inevitably get back in bed anyway. Kanbei usually woke up later to find Hanbei snuggled against him, curled up like a little child would with their parents. His side of the bed would be cold, but that was okay because he was on Kanbei’s side. 

Today, however, and the past few days as well, Hanbei’s side of the bed felt like it was coated in ice. Perhaps from the lack of use, or the fact that it was just a reminder that Hanbei was gone and he wouldn’t be back. Sure, he had promised he’d be back, but he could promise all the things he wanted. They were empty promises. 

Kanbei slowly sat up in bed and stretched. His cat, Aiko, jumped onto the bed from somewhere he hadn’t seen, and laid on his pillow. She was quite old and lazy, her black patches faded quite a bit into a darker brown. The only all black patch was the one Hanbei insisted was shaped like a heart on her chest(though Kanbei couldn’t see the resemblance). That patch was the reason for her name, meaning “child of love” although Aiko was a fairly grumpy cat with not much love she wanted to give. 

However, in recent days she had taken an affection to Kanbei, perhaps sensing that Hanbei’s disappearance made him sad, and she liked to stay with him. It made him feel a bit better to know he wasn’t totally alone. 

Kanbei had to force himself to get out of bed. Ordinarily, he would be able to sleep in, but since Hanbei had gone, he had to provide food for himself. Since he couldn’t hunt, he had to scrounge up what possessions he had and trade them for food. He would never trade away anything Hanbei had, though, or anything the two of them shared, even if he was starving. It felt disrespectful. 

Aiko meowed loudly from the bedroom, as if sensing Kanbei had picked up the ball of yarn she loved to play with. It was one of the only things Kanbei had left that he could trade at the market or the Hob. Yarn was in high demand since clothes were often in need of repair. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, wondering why he was apologizing to a cat, “but I have to give away things to get by.” 

Another reproachful meow.

“I’ll get you another one one day.”

He put the ball of yarn in a basket he usually carried with him. Today the only things he had inside were a few old clothes and a bit of wood planks from a broken cabinet that was thrown away behind the house. It was all he could find, and he hoped that there would be just a few takers.

However, when he opened the door, he was surprised to find a basket of food on the porch. Warm bread with raisins baked inside, a few greens, and a container of chunky soup. There were even some strawberries that Kanbei recognized to be the ones Hanbei got from near the forest. A piece of paper, a letter, was stuck in between the greens with neat, curly handwriting on it. 

Kanbei picked up the letter and read the words printed in dark pen ink.

_ My mother knows that it is harder to get by without Hanbei hunting for the two of you. She sent me to the bakery and then the market to get you a few things so you don’t have to trade any of your things away. I also decided to get you the strawberries myself. I hope you like them. _

_ ~ Toyotomi Hideyori  _

Toyotomi Hideyori. The mayor’s son. Kanbei had only caught glimpses of him before, at the previous reapings, but had never paid much attention to him. He tried to remember what he looked like, but no distinct features were coming to mind except for the warm brown hair like his father’s.

Looking around, Kanbei saw no one who would fit that description (even though it was a very vague one), meaning that these had to have been delivered before he awoke. However, the bread was still warm, so it wasn’t delivered too long ago. Perhaps when he was still in bed.

Kanbei quickly took the basket of food inside and stored the food in a cupboard, which was mostly empty except for a few fruits. He ate a bit of bread for breakfast. It was very sweet, and the bread was soft. Kanbei had never eaten something as good as this in his entire life. However, given that Hideyoshi and Nene (and by extension, Hideyori) were part of the slightly richer side of District 12, they had always been better off. They had probably eaten this bread before.

* * *

He went to the market later, not to trade, but to find Nene. Hanbei had said that she often wandered around there, offering food to the poorer citizens. Even though she wasn’t the richest and of course didn’t have all the food to spare, she gave away what she could to those who didn’t have anything.

“She stands out in all of the crowds,” he remembered Hanbei saying. “You know how she and Hideyoshi wear bright yellow clothes? It contrasts with everyone else’s clothes.”

True to Hanbei’s word, Kanbei found Nene not long later, in her bright yellow clothes that did indeed stand out, giving an old woman food from her large basket. She was also accompanied by a young man who was a little taller than she, with warm brown hair in a ponytail that laid on his left shoulder. He looked strikingly like her; they had the same eyes and a similar face.

“Lady Nene,” Kanbei said, catching her attention. She turned towards him and a smile appeared on her face.

“Hello, Kanbei! Did you get our food? I hope Hideyori found you well,” she said, nodding towards the young man that was with her. Hideyori smiled, and his smile was just like hers. 

“I wanted to thank you. I apologize that I can’t pay you back for your kindness, but--” 

“No, no! You don’t need to pay us back, not at all.” Nene waved her hand in protest. “You’re too kind, Kanbei, but really. We’re always happy to help everyone, and that includes you as well.” 

She looked as if she were about to say more, but a young child came up to her, inquiring about food, and she was instantly distracted, crouching down to speak to the kid. Hideyori, however, seemed to take no notice, and stepped closer to Kanbei. 

“The ring on your hand is beautiful,” he commented, gesturing towards the iridescent ring on Kanbei’s ring finger. “It matches the one that you gave to Mother. She delivered it to Hanbei, I know. He was wearing it during the tribute parade.”

However, he wasn’t staring at the ring, but was actually staring directly into Kanbei’s eyes, as if he was seeing into his mind. It made Kanbei uncomfortable that someone could see through him, because usually only Hanbei could do that. 

“Indeed, he was,” he finally said. “Your mother had the rings stored away somewhere, she said. Was she expecting us to be married?”

“I should think not. They were rings from one of Father’s previous marriages. He kept them when he married Mother, for reasons I don’t know. But they fit you and Hanbei better than Father and his other wife, I’m sure.”

Hideyori focused his attention on some nearby birds. 

“Your fiance is very brave,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d be able to do what he did, you know. Are you proud?”

“Not particularly,” Kanbei answered stiffly.

“Ah, my apologies. I should have known it would be a sensitive subject.” Hideyori didn’t seem all too concerned, though, that he just asked Kanbei whether he was proud that his fiance was going to die. 

“I should be going, but Mother and Father and I will see you soon. Perhaps when the games begin.”

Just like that, Hideyori was suddenly gone. Kanbei looked around for him and spotted him and his mother nearly ten feet away. Somehow, even in their bright yellow clothes, they had managed to slip away quickly and silently.

* * *

It was obvious to Kanbei, as he sat in front of his small TV in his living room, Aiko under his chair, that the tribute mentors all decided to have the tributes portray one personality trait and use it. The boy from District 1 was vengeful and angry, the girl from District 2 was sneaky and smart, the girl from District 6 was small and delicate, and the boy from District 11 … talked about his family a lot. It seemed to make the audience happy, though, because of the way they  _ awwwwed _ when he said his father was devastated, or that his older siblings were all worried for their baby brother. 

Then came Tama, the District 12 female, in a pretty dress that was the same color as her hair, with a purple bow around the back. She and the interviewer, a woman with a bright pink afro named Koshosho, seemed to get along very well. But she wasn’t the one he was waiting for.

Finally, Hanbei walked out onstage to a surprising amount of applause from the audience. He waved at them, and the camera seemed to zoom in on his hand, which had the ring on it. 

“Thanks for sitting here with me today, Hanbei,” Koshosho said airily as Hanbei sat down. He shrugged. 

“What choice do I have? If I had to choose anywhere to be, I think you could guess,” he laughed. He held out the hand with the ring on it, showing it off to everyone, and the crowd  _ ooohed _ as the light reflected off of it. 

“Of course, of course! That ring, such a beauty. Are you married? I didn’t notice it during the reaping.” Koshosho leaned forward a bit in her seat to observe the ring. “It looks oddly expensive, as well! You certainly are a lucky couple.”

“We’re fiances,” Hanbei replied conversationally, leaning back in his chair as if he were over at a friend’s house and not on live television. “We’re planning to get married if-- no,  _ when _ I come home.”

There were  _ ooohs  _ again at this, and even Koshosho cocked an eyebrow. “So sure of your victory, then? Well, you scored an 8 in your private session, above average for your district. I’m sure you’ll win. But tell us about your fiance! Kanbei, was it?”

Hanbei hesitated, as if there were words on the tip of his tongue that he didn’t want to say. He looked into the camera, and Kanbei felt as if he was looking into his eyes, searching for an answer. Finally, Hanbei smiled and answered, “He looks like a big grump, but he’s really a softie. He loves strawberries, and he sits in front of the window with our cat on his lap. And he’s the only person in the entire world who I love with my entire heart. I would do anything for him.”

The audience  _ awwwwed _ at this display of affection, and Koshosho put a hand over heart. “How sweet!” she exclaimed. “Did anything happen after the reaping? What did he say to you?”

Hanbei wiggled his eyebrows in an oddly provocative way. “Who said we  _ said _ anything to each other, hm? It was more  _ action, _ let’s just say.”

The audience either laughed or gasped in scandal, and Kanbei just placed his face in his hands. Leave it to Hanbei to exaggerate their emotional goodbye into something else. 

“Interesting, interesting,” Koshosho commented, smirking as the laughter died down. “Well, I’m sure Kanbei is watching this, so what do you have to say to him? It would be nice to end the interview with a little message, wouldn’t it?”

Hanbei looked directly into the camera and smiled, a real, genuine smile, the one that he gave Kanbei to cheer him up when he was sad. It wasn’t exactly a cheerful smile, but it was more of a reassuring one, a reminder that it would be okay.

“You’re the best thing that’s happened to me,” he said, “I promise I’ll come home for you.”

The buzzer signalling the end of the interview sounded, and Hanbei stood up and walked off the stage, waving to the crowd that seemed to be either crying or cheering or both at the same time. 

Kanbei stared at the tv for a long time, even after it turned off once the interview segment ended and Koshosho said her final goodbyes. 

Hanbei promised he’d come home. 

Tomorrow, Kanbei would see if he could come even close to keeping that promise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapters are gonna be in the arena im very excited to write those  
> the a c t i o n   
> the s u s p e n s e   
> hoo boy we have much to get into but it will be (hopefully) big fun to read


	5. the arena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone thank for pilongski for the wonderful kanhan gift they wrote for me!! their writing >>>>
> 
> anyway i had school which made me more busy but now we're going to online so hopefully i'll be less busy!
> 
> had to upload this again after ao3 did a funky glitch >:(

_60._ _59\. 58. 57._

Hanbei stood on the podium, squinting around at the bright sunlight of the arena as the 60 second timer counted down.

The arena this year was full of green, with a large forest surrounding the tributes. The podiums were in one large meadow of healthy grass, and in the exact middle was the Cornucopia, a twenty-foot-high golden cone with supplies spilling out of the mouth.

_52\. 51. 50. 49._

Everything that had happened that morning had gone by in a blur. Hanbei was given special clothes for the arena in dark shades of green and brown. He got a tracker inserted (painfully) into his arm. Then he was hustled off to the Launch Room, or as the districts called it, the Stockyard. Nagamasa was there, and persuaded him to at least drink some water before the games started. 

“You’re unusually calm,” Nagamasa commented. “Most tributes are often shaking with fear.”

“I’m just a calm person,” Hanbei lied. He knew that on the outside, he looked okay. On the inside, however, he was a nervous wreck.

_41\. 40. 39. 38._

As his eyes traveled around, surveying the area, Hanbei caught sight of a small backpack near him, and knew he had to get it. He wanted to grab something, anything, and then head straight for the woods. Fighting would only increase the amount of slaughter.

He looked past the backpack and saw that another tribute, the female from District 1, was also eying it with an expression on her face that Hanbei did not like. He didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed her before. He supposed it was because she looked fairly average: long dark hair, brown eyes, a heart-shaped face. Truthfully, he didn’t feel intimidated by her in the slightest. She had thin arms that looked like she hadn’t trained a second of her life. 

_30\. 29. 28. 27._

Could he make a break for the backpack before she got to it? He was quite good at sprinting, and he was sure he could make it out of there before the District 1 girl pinned him down and killed him. 

_25\. 24. 23. 22._

Hanbei looked to his right, then his left. Both tributes were paying him and the backpack no mind. It was just the average-looking girl that would be his competition. 

He was closer to the backpack, wasn’t he?

_17\. 16. 15. 14._

Hanbei prepared to leap off his podium. His plan: grab the backpack, get the hell out of there. He wasn’t going to risk snatching a weapon when bloodthirsty Careers were literally twenty feet away.

_13\. 12. 11. 10._

He saw the dark-haired girl make eye contact with him, and she furrowed her eyebrows. 

_9\. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1._

The gong rang out, and Hanbei jumped off the podium, landing in the grass. Unfortunately, he overshot the jump, lost his balance, fell over, and rolled a little farther away from the backpack. Sitting up quickly, he saw the District 1 girl streak past him, the backpack in her arms. 

“Shit!” Well, there was no point in chasing after her. But he had to grab something or he wouldn’t stand a chance in the forest alone. 

He ran forward into the crowd, hoping he would be concealed by the tributes that were scrambling around in confusion. People soon started falling to their knees and then on their faces, some with knives in their backs, others with arrows to the necks. Someone other than Hanbei had mastered archery, probably a Career. Kunoichi’s district partner was stabbing people with his spear, and Ranmaru was wielding a large sword, slicing at anything it reached. 

Mostly people.

Okay, it was _only_ people. But that was to be expected. 

Hanbei spotted a boy with an eyepatch running towards a brown backpack that was near him, and he saw his chance. He sprinted towards the bag, scooped it up by one of the straps, and headed full-speed towards the forest ahead of him. He heard Kunoichi shout something inaudible, and suddenly he heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind him. Someone was chasing him, probably her. He was fast though, and he was sure he could outrun her. She wouldn’t continue to pursue him, right?

“Ina!” Kunoichi yelled, her voice now louder than before, “Shoot him before he gets away!” 

Hanbei looked back for a second and saw that Kunoichi had stopped chasing him, but that the District 1 girl, Ina, was drawing back an arrow in her bow. His eyes widened, and he sped up, though he felt his legs protesting. If she was as masterful as he was with a bow and arrow (probably even better, given that she was a Career), then he knew she wouldn’t miss. He had to get out of the arrow’s range. 

The arrow went sailing past, not hitting him, but still brushing against his right ear. Hanbei felt a bit of pain on his ear and knew the arrow had probably scraped it, causing it to bleed. He heard Kunoichi curse very loudly at Ina, and knew she was probably distracted enough, so he snatched up the arrow of the ground and took off into the woods, using the trees as cover. 

_I need to get away from here, as far as I can._

He ran farther and farther into the forest until his legs actually gave out and he fell to the floor, lying among leaves, grass, and dirt. Breathing heavily, he hoisted himself up to a sitting position, using his arms to push himself up and against a nearby tree. There, he rested for a bit, but kept his eyes open. He didn’t dare doze off for fear of being discovered by a bloodthirsty Career or some kind of strange creature made by the Capitol. 

The cannons signifying the deaths of the tributes started to go off. Because of the many fatalities, the Gamemakers didn’t fire the cannons until all the Cornucopia fighting was over. Hanbei counted the cannon shots as he lay against the tree. Twelve shots were fired, meaning exactly half of the tributes were dead. 

He wondered if anyone he knew, or at least able to recognize, was one of the twelve that died. His mind wandered to Takakage, the boy from District 11, the doll-fairy girl from 6, and Tama. Briefly he even saw the boy with the eyepatch again in his mind. Were they alive? If they were, how were they faring in these new conditions? He remembered Takakage climbing the fake trees and leaping from branch to branch silently. Well, at least he’d be okay in this kind of environment.

Hanbei tried to remember if he’d seen Tama at all during the Bloodbath. He hadn’t even seen her on the podiums when he was looking around. He imagined her terrified face in the chaos, and for a moment he imagined her dead at the hands of a Career with a shining, bloody knife. Then he shook his head, as if to clear his head of that image. She proved to be surprisingly capable with throwing knives, given that she didn’t have that long to train. He was sure she’d be fine. 

Kind of sure, at least.

To distract himself, Hanbei decided to open up the backpack and examine its contents. Inside, he found a thick black jacket that was tightly rolled up (and looked like hell to undo and redo the roll), an empty water canteen, and a pack of dehydrated chicken strips, along with the sharp arrow he had taken. There was still a lot of empty space in the backpack, which meant they didn’t even care enough to fill the bag with enough proper supplies.

“This is a scam,” he murmured under his breath as he looked at the packet of chicken strips. It looked like it was meant for dogs rather than humans. The dogs of 12 probably couldn’t even dream of such food, for often these dogs had to eat out of trash and were so thin one could see their ribs. Hanbei remembered that Kanbei often observed the dogs and quietly left out food for them when he thought no one was watching. 

His heart ached. He hadn’t even realized how much he missed Kanbei. It had been such a busy week, preparing for the arena and whatnot, that he hadn’t the time to dwell on the fact that he might not come home. He wondered if Kanbei was watching him at the moment, or if he was hiding away in their house, curtains drawn and doors locked.

* * *

As night began to fall, the Capitol anthem rang throughout the arena. Hanbei knew this was the time when the tributes got to see the faces of the fallen in the sky. There would be twelve tributes dead, and Hanbei counted them in his mind. 

First, the girl from 3. The Careers had all survived, but of course they had. Then both from 4 and 5. The boy from 6. Both from 7, 8, and 9. That was twelve. That meant Tama had survived, as had Takakage, 6, and the boy with the eyepatch (Hanbei didn’t know what district he was from). 

Hanbei let out a long sigh and scanned the forest around him. It was empty, luckily. He decided to take this chance to climb one of the trees, one shrouded in many leaves, and sleep in it (hopefully) without having to worry about anyone hearing him. Nimbly, he climbed to a fairly high and sturdy branch. He put on the large black jacket, put on the backpack, then looped his belt around the tree branch and fastened around his waist. Now he wouldn’t fall out of the tree in his sleep.

He yawned and rubbed his tired eyes. He really needed to rest if he was to have enough energy to survive these games. 

As he drifted off, he had the feeling that he was being watched, but brushed it off as the Capitol’s cameras being pointed towards him. He was too tired to care, anyway. 

He was awoken only a little while later after being hit with numerous tiny rocks.

“What the hell?” he hissed to no one in particular, rather angrily at being awoken. He looked at the sky, which was now darker than it had been when he had fallen asleep. His eyes began to adjust to the darkness as another rock hit his shoulder. He looked downwards and saw a dark shape on the ground. Slowly he was able to make out the facial features of the tiny doll-faced girl from 6. She pressed a finger over her lips in a “shh,” then motioned for him to come down from the tree. 

Once he was on the ground, he opened his mouth again to speak, but was quickly shushed once more. The girl then pointed through the trees at something.

The Careers had made camp just beyond some large bushes, very close to where Hanbei had been sleeping. If he had stayed in that tree, especially since the branch he had been on was facing the Careers, he would have risked being seen by them, since they were so close by. They had built a fire and were all huddled around it, except for the District 2 boy, who was keeping watch. 

“This way,” the girl whispered, and she tiptoed away on light, silent feet. Hanbei’s tiptoeing was a lot more awkward, and he felt like every step he took was so loud that it was a wonder the Careers didn’t hear it. Nevertheless, he allowed himself to be led further into the forest, away from the Careers. 

“I think we are safe now,” said the girl, after what felt like a long while. She motioned for him to come a little closer into a small clearing in the trees, with lots of grass. There, the two of them sat together. It got a bit colder, and Hanbei wrapped his arms around himself. The girl didn’t even seem to be affected, and she wasn’t even wearing a jacket. Just a thin sweater and pants. She hadn’t even grabbed anything from the Cornucopia.

“Why did you help me?” he asked. The girl tilted her head to one side in confusion, but then smiled. 

“I think violence is unnecessary. So I want to help everyone I can. The Careers are dangerous, so I’ll help people to stay out of their way. It will be useful.”

“But you can’t trust anybody! I could easily kill you right now.”

“No, you couldn’t. You don’t look like someone who would kill for fun, like they would. You volunteered to protect someone, not because you wanted to. Didn’t you?” 

“Yeah, but not everyone will be like me.”

“Of course, I know that,” said the girl. Her smile faded as she plucked some grass strands from the ground. “So I will be cautious. I promised my friend to be careful here.” 

Hanbei thought back to the reaping, where the girl was clinging to her red-haired friend.

“Kai is very kind to me,” she continued. “She seems brash and loud, but she means well. She just gets very excited about things. She brightens up District 6 very much. If I hadn’t met her, I don’t think I’d be very happy. District 6 is full of poverty. But we have learned to live with it.”

“Aren’t you angry at how much poverty there is? If the Capitol wasn’t so evil, then you would be more fortunate.” Personally, Hanbei was always angry at how poor District 12 was. He knew the Capitol had the power to change that, but they were too selfish and didn’t care about what the districts wanted. 

”I don’t think anyone is truly evil, even the Careers or the people of the Capitol. They were raised to be that way. It’s not their true nature.”

Hanbei silently disagreed. If they weren’t truly evil, where was the good in their hearts? Why didn’t it show itself? Why did it let the Careers kill people without a second glance? Why did it let the Capitol continue these bloodthirsty games?

“You disagree,” the girl added. “I can tell by your face. But, I will not argue with you. I don’t like to argue.”

She continued to pluck grass from the ground for a while, until she looked up at Hanbei again.

“You’re allowed to leave, you know.”

“Did you want me to?”

“Well… I thought you wouldn’t want to stay.”

Hanbei blinked at her. Yes, his main plan had been to go solo. It was safer that way, since he wouldn’t have to end up killing (or dying at the hands of) an ally. But now, he felt that this tiny girl would need some protection. 

So he made the decision. 

“Maybe we could be allies.”

She looked up at him, confused. “Us? But…” 

“I’m sure we’d be a good team. You’re smart, and I can fight. Well, once I get my hands on a bow and arrow, anyway,” Hanbei laughed. “Besides, if the Careers can make alliances, who said we can’t, either?”

He could tell she was thinking hard about it by the way her eyes shifted, and how she chewed on her lip. 

“What if we have to kill each other?” she asked, and Hanbei faltered for a split second. He had forgotten about that part. But he smiled again, and just shrugged. 

“We probably won’t. And if we do, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. What do you say?” 

He held out his hand for her to shake, and she hesitated for only a moment. Then she put her hand in his, and they shook on it. 

“Oh, I don’t think I ever got your name,” Hanbei said. The girl smiled, too. 

“My name is Hayakawa.”

* * *

Hanbei was awoken by the sound of a sudden crash. He sat bolt upright and looked into the forest around him. The trees were all falling down, one after the other, sending branches and grass up into the air. Dirt was clumping up into thick brown dust clouds that was being quickly sent forward by the falling trees. 

“Hayakawa, Hayakawa, wake up! We need to get out of here!” 

He shook her to wake her up, but she only blinked blearily and kept sleeping. How could she sleep in this situation? If they didn’t get out of there right that moment, they would get crushed and killed by a tree. He could hear a cannon fire and knew someone had died, probably because of the falling trees. 

“HAYAKAWA!”

At the sound of his shriek, Hayakawa suddenly sat up. A tree near them almost fell on her leg, and Hanbei had to drag her out of the way. 

“Where are we supposed to go? We can’t run into the forest!” 

“This clearing isn’t safe either. We need to go!” 

Hanbei pulled her to her feet and started sprinting towards the direction of the falling trees, taking her along with him. She made them both skid to a halt when she held fast to his arm and planted her feet against a rock. 

“We can’t go that way!”

“We can’t stop, can we?” Hanbei asked. He started to cough violently as a cloud of dust was sent into his face. It seemed the dust was an entirely separate entity, since the trees falling were a bit further behind them. It seemed to be modified dust specifically for the games, since this dust made him feel very dizzy and his vision was fuzzier, and as he inhaled it, he could feel his breaths becoming shorter. 

“Can you run?” Hayakawa looked terrified at his sudden outburst of coughs. 

“I don’t know, I can’t see very w--”

Another line of trees started to fall, this time much faster. Hayakawa had to pull Hanbei out of the way this time, but more trees started falling beside them, trapping them. More dust was kicked up. Hanbei squeezed his eyes shut and covered his nose and mouth with his shirt this time, but Hayakawa ended up getting a full force of dust to the face. The ground shook, and Hanbei was sure a tree was about to fall between them, so he stumbled backwards away from it and fell to a sitting position on the ground, feeling a sharp jolt of pain shoot through his spine. He must have injured his tailbone from the force of his fall. 

He curled up into a ball, hoping the falling trees would just stop.

* * *

After he was sure the trees had stopped falling, he batted his hand in the air to clear any stray dust and opened his eyes. His vision had cleared now, probably because no more dust had gotten into his face. There was indeed a large fallen tree now in front of him, and branches all around him in a perfect arc. When he stood up, he could see that there were trees to the left and right of him that had fallen, but it seemed there were still hundreds more that were standing. 

“Hayakawa? Hayakawa, are you okay?!” He felt his heart start to pound when he remembered that she had been hit with a ton of dust. The tree trunk was too tall to see over, so he clambered over it, even though his tailbone protested painfully. 

She was actually sitting up, tears falling down her cheeks and creating two pale lines on her dust-covered face. At the sound of Hanbei jumping to the ground from the tree trunk, she was startled so intensely she screamed and fell backward. 

“It’s just me, it’s just me! There’s nothing to be startled about…”

Hanbei’s voice trailed off as he got a good look at Hayakawa’s eyes. In the middle of each eye was like a black explosion, with black streaks spreading outward over the entire eye. Part of the original blue was still visible, but only bits of it. 

“Hayakawa, what happened to your eyes?”

“I don’t know! The dust got into my eyes and made these black sparks appear in my vision that spread all over and now I can’t see except for small triangles near the edges! I can’t see, Hanbei, I’m scared, what will happen to me? I can’t go blind during the Hunger Games, I’m going to die!” 

“Calm down, calm down! We can work this out!” 

“How, Hanbei? How can we work out the fact that I can’t see in a battle to the death?”

“We’ll have to make do until you can get some help,” Hanbei said decisively. He pulled her to her feet and used his sleeve to wipe the dust off her face. “We should get moving. Come on, I’ll help you.”

Hayakawa breathed in a shaky breath, then nodded. She let Hanbei grab her arm and guide her through the forest, helping her climb over tree trunks in their paths and gently steering her away from obstacles she couldn’t see. They were a lot slower than they had been the night before, what with Hayakawa’s vision impairment and Hanbei’s injured tailbone (which made it quite painful to move too much), but they were actually moving quicker than expected.

* * *

“I see bright lights in the triangles of my eyes,” Hayakawa said when Hanbei led her out of the forest and into the grassy area outside of it. He thought it was strange that she could see well out of the parts of her eyes where the white hadn’t touched. “Are we out of the forest?” 

“Yeah,” Hanbei replied. “I don’t think this is where the podiums were, though. We’re somewhere else.” 

The area around them did not have clean cut grass like where the podium area was, but rather long and unkempt grass stalks that stuck up like many long, thin fingers in the ground. There were a few bushes with crispy-looking leaves, but other than that the field was out in the open. Anyone could be seen trampling around in the grass here. In fact, Hanbei could see that a little ways away, two people were walking around in the grass. He didn’t tell Hayakawa this, though. 

“Is this ‘somewhere else’ safe?” she asked him. 

“I don’t think so. It’s out in the open, and there’s only a few ugly bushes.”

“So are we going to go back into the forest? That’s equally unsafe, Hanbei.”

“I know that.”

The wind whistled in his ears as he debated which direction to go. Hayakawa started tapping one of her feet against the ground in no particular rhythm, which irritated Hanbei a bit. Finally, he turned back around and pulled Hayakawa into the forest, choosing to settle down in a place with a view of the field between the trees. 

“Here is safe enough. We-- I mean, I-- can see out into the field, and if anyone’s coming towards us we can run or climb a tree or something.” 

“I suppose I will have to learn how to climb a tree while blind,” Hayakawa sighed, “but that’s alright. I never learned how to do it while seeing, so at least I won’t have to unlearn anything.”

* * *

Hanbei spent the rest of the day teaching Hayakawa how to climb a tree. She was quite good at it, perhaps because of her light weight and nimble feet. Even though she couldn’t see, she was able to navigate the trees by touch. Hanbei was amazed. They chewed on the dehydrated chicken strips as they climbed, and later Hanbei even found a small pond nearby with some lotus flowers, where he filled his water canteen. 

That evening, he was able to shoot down a wandering deer and started roasting it over a small fire for dinner. Hayakawa asked him to add lotus roots to the meal, because she knew they could be eaten.

“How do you know that? Isn’t District 6 transportation?” Hanbei asked as he cooked the lotus roots in his canteen over the fire. (Well, he didn’t have a pot, so this would have to do.)

“I saw it in one of the Games,” Hayakawa replied. “It was one of the District 12 victors, I think. Not the man with the daughter, but the other one. He had grayish blue hair.”

“Motochika?”

“Yes, Motochika.”

“He died of illness a few years ago, just a few months after the Games.”

“That’s sad. I thought he was a good man.”

A little later, Hanbei put out the fire and used the sharp arrow to slice away parts of the deer. He gave some to Hayakawa, and together they had a pretty filling dinner of deer and lotus roots. The lotus roots were sweet and a little crunchy. 

Kind of like strawberries. 

Hanbei thought of Kanbei as he continued to eat the lotus roots. He imagined what Kanbei would say if Hanbei brought these home instead. 

_“Hanbei, what is this?”_

_“A lotus root. I couldn’t find any strawberries.”_

_“‘Couldn’t find any strawberries’ what nonsense. You were lazy and wanted to take a nap.”_

_“Aw, come on Kanbei! These took more work to find than strawberries! Besides, you should branch out. All you eat is strawberries, it’s like your only personality trait.”_

_“Food can’t be a personality trait, Hanbei.”_

_“You know what I mean!”_

Hanbei smiled as he thought of Kanbei. He realized how long it had been since he had last seen him. It had only been about a week, but to him it felt like years. 

He really spent a lot of time with Kanbei, huh?

As they finished eating, the anthem started to play, and the dead tributes were shown in the sky. Only one had died, the cannon shot that Hanbei had heard earlier. It was the girl from 10. That meant the Careers, Hanbei, Hayakawa, Tama, Takakage, the boy with the eyepatch, and five others were still alive. It was only the second day and already more tributes were dead than not. By a small margin, but still. 

He relayed all of this information to Hayakawa, who apparently recognized the boy with the eyepatch. 

“I think he’s from 3. His name is Masamune. He said in his interview he lost his eye because of an infection working in the factory,” she said. “I feel bad for him. In 3 the conditions are horrible. I heard they have to work in factories all day to make technology for the Capitol.”

“They just work all day in the factory?”

“Of course. Isn’t that what we all do? Except for 1 and 2, really. But my family works in a factory to make transportation. Don’t you?”

“No, in District 12 we mostly mine for coal. It’s dangerous work. Many people die in the mines, but it’s the only job there, you know?” Hanbei shrugged as he put on his jacket. “Come on, we should sleep in the trees. It’s safer.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine down here,” Hayakawa said quite cheerfully. “I slept in the tree roots yesterday evening before I found you. They are very large, so it will be easy for me to hide. Besides, I have nothing to belt myself into a tree.”

She felt around at the tree roots with her hands and climbed in between two of them. It was like she had disappeared. Hanbei couldn’t even see her from where he was standing. In fact, he found the only way he could see her, curled up and sleeping, was from a specific branch on his tree, which was pretty amazing. 

He felt himself start to doze off. Maybe this night would be okay. No Careers to disturb him, no falling trees. 

Then he heard footsteps. Footsteps in a pair of two. 

_Goddammit, it has to be the two people I saw earlier! I need to stay on guard all the time._

He unbelted himself from the tree and pulled out the arrow from his backpack, then hid in the shadowy parts of the tree, waiting to strike. Of course, since he didn’t have a bow to shoot the arrow, he would have to throw the arrow, which would be useless, but it was his only method of defense. He hoped Hayakawa would stay hidden in the tree roots. 

Soon enough, two people came crashing through the trees. But they weren’t Careers. 

“Takakage, do you think Hanbei’s holding up well?”


	6. the first kill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **my brain:** hey you had a four day weekend how about that kanhan HG fic huh
> 
> *later*
> 
>  **my brain:** hey it's been like two weeks and you had all this time, what about the kANHAN FIC
> 
> *later*
> 
>  **my brain:** _I BEG OF YOU PLEASE JUST WRITE THE GOOD FOOD_
> 
>  **me:** what
> 
> \---
> 
> hi i'm back again on my bullshit! sorry for the long wait, i've been caught up with school :')
> 
> also warning for mentions of parent troubles (specifically affairs) so be warned! i placed asterisks before and after that part, so you can skip if you want

_ He was sitting in the grass again. He knew what would come. It was there every night, a never-ending hell as soon as he closed his eyes. _

_ Kanbei waited for a long while, but the recurring screams from Hanbei never came. Just the rustle of the trees. It was good, a nice change from the horrible shrieking he heard in his mind every night. Maybe tonight, he would just have a normal dream.  _

_ A sudden pair of arms wrapped around him, making him tense up, and a face nuzzled into his neck.  _

_ “Hello, my slumbering little bug,” Hanbei cooed, smiling. “Have you been lonely without me?”  _

_ “A little, yes,” Kanbei replied, still not relaxing even as Hanbei squished his cheeks.  _

_ Hanbei laughed. “Only a little?” he repeated. “Then I guess you don’t need me, do you?” _

_ “That is not what I--”  _

_ “Don’t worry, I didn’t take it personally,” was the reply, though Hanbei’s tone was deadly cold. “But now that I’m gone, you’re free to do whatever you want without me holding you down.” _

_ “Hanbei, you never--” _

_ “You like someone else.”  _

_ “I do  _ not _.”  _

_ Hanbei scowled. He let go of Kanbei and walked around to face him, kneeling so they were at eye level. “You do. I’ve been gone too long and now you’ve probably found someone else to replace me. Even after you said you loved me!” _

_ “If you would stop interrupting me, I could tell you that I haven’t found someone else.” _

_ “You don’t need to explain shit,” Hanbei chuckled as though he hadn’t heard, though a stray tear had made its way down his face. “It’s fine. There’s no point in staying with a dead man.” He stood up and turned around, beginning to walk away.  _

_ “Hanbei, don’t go. You don’t understand.” Kanbei reached out and grabbed Hanbei’s wrist in his. “I haven’t loved anyone other than you, ever. I promised I’d stay. But I can’t if you leave.” _

_ “I’ve already left,” Hanbei snapped, wrenching his wrist out of Kanbei’s grip. “You can’t stay when I’m already dead.” _

_ “Yet you aren’t even walking away from me.” _

_ “Only because you’re still talking.”  _

_ “You’re initiating the conversation. If you would let me talk, you’d know that I don’t love anyone else.” _

_ Hanbei turned again and stared down at him with an odd look on his face. There was nothing behind his eyes, just darkness, like he was an empty human shell. It made him look much older.  _

_ “You insist that, but I’m sure a day will come when you find someone better,” he said in a voice that did not sound like his. “Perhaps you should start looking. I’ll never come back to stop you.”  _

_ Slowly, he knelt next in front of Kanbei and leaned on his shoulder, closing his eyes. After a moment, Kanbei nudged him gently on the shoulder. No response. Just Hanbei’s slow, steady breathing, until that was gone too. _

His dreams always ended like that, with Hanbei’s dead corpse lying somewhere near him. Even if it was a happy dream. It had to end like that.

Always. 

_ I’m sure a day will come when you find someone better.  _

_ Perhaps you should start looking. _

**_I’ll never come back to stop you._ **

No. He wouldn’t leave Hanbei like that. He couldn’t. He would die before doing such a thing. 

Aiko jumped up on the bed and purred. Kanbei scratched her behind the ears as he got out of bed and opened the curtains to the window. The sunlight wasn’t bright at all today, it was blocked by some clouds and Kanbei could swear he saw a few raindrops fall. There weren’t many people outside either, but that was expected around this time of year. During the Games, everyone seemed to stay indoors unless they had to leave their homes as a show of respect to the tributes. 

Kanbei stared outdoors for a while, not really seeing anything. He simply let his thoughts consume his mind, and eventually they circulated around Hanbei. How was he? He seemed relatively alright the day before, except for the fact that it looked a bit painful for him to move after he fell down during the tree incident. It had felt like forever when Kanbei had to watch the trees fall around Hanbei, hoping he wouldn’t get crushed. 

He thought of how Hanbei comforted the District 6 girl when the dust blinded her, and smiled. Hanbei was always good with kids. He could easily make them laugh, but he could also listen. He knew how it felt to be ignored because you were a kid (or looked like one), so he always listened to what children had to say. It was really quite sweet.

A knock at the door forced him out of his thoughts. He groaned internally, knowing it was probably Hideyori. The mayor’s son had either been told by his mother or taken it upon himself to visit Kanbei when he could, to keep him company. While appreciating the gesture, Kanbei wished it could have been literally anyone else visiting him. Hideyori gave off a weird aura of looking straight through him when he looked him in the eyes, and he asked a lot of weird questions. He would much rather prefer the silent company, where all you had to know was that someone was there if you  _ wanted _ to talk. 

“I didn’t know it was customary for you to let yourself in,” Kanbei said gruffly when he heard Hideyori’s footsteps as he stepped into the room. 

“Apologies. The door was unlocked, and I didn’t want to wait too long in the rain.” 

“Hm.”

Kanbei turned to see Hideyori petting Aiko, who was asleep on a pillow. 

“You have such a pretty cat. Where did you get her from?”

“Where do you get all these questions from?”

Hideyori frowned. “Forgive me, but I find them the best way to get to know someone. If you like, I’ll stop asking.”

For the next few minutes it was so silent that Kanbei felt like he couldn’t think. It was too unusual. This wasn’t the silent company that Kanbei wanted, where you could at least breathe. This silence felt more like if you made a single sound, everything would break. It was a tense silence, and he could almost feel Hideyori’s uneasiness radiating off of him. 

“If it makes you uncomfortable to not talk, you can talk. Just not to me.”

“Oh, I was perfectly comfortable,” Hideyori replied, though Kanbei thought he heard a sigh of relief. Hideyori started to talk softly about nothing in particular, which provided pleasant white noise in the background for Kanbei to think. 

************

The tension slowly began to unravel, until Hideyori said in passing, “... and my parents aren’t getting along the greatest, but--”

“What?” Kanbei asked, turning back to Hideyori, who looked a bit surprised. He was under the impression that Hideyoshi and Nene got along very well. 

“Oh, it must have slipped out. It was nothing.” He smiled, though his eyes weren’t in it. 

“No, I’m now wondering what you mean. If it’s not too rude, might I ask what’s going on?” 

“Not at all, not at all. It’s only a little thing. Father sometimes leaves for a while, and returns really late. Mother wasn’t concerned, but after investigating a bit, she thought he was seeing someone. I think they’re trying to hide it from me, but I’ve seen Father meet up with another woman when he thinks Mother and I can’t see him. I don’t know why. Does he think Mother isn’t good enough? What if he thinks that means  _ I’m _ not good enough, since I take after her?” 

Hideyori looked afraid at the thought of that, an unnatural look for him. Kanbei could think of nothing to say. He wanted to say “Hideyoshi would never think that, he loves you” but he didn’t know that for sure, and he didn’t want to lie. Kanbei hated to lie.

“I don’t think it concerns how he feels about you,” Kanbei finally said, hoping that this was the truth. “It’s about his relationship with Nene, not you.”

“Maybe.” Hideyori muttered. “I want Mother and Father to get along, but I don’t want to bother them. Mother’s been stressed lately since she and Father argue all the time. She’s always tired. And Father keeps leaving to meet with that woman and he stays with her longer and longer. I’m afraid for the day he leaves and doesn’t come back.”

Kanbei tried to imagine Hideyoshi, of all people, walking out on his family. Leaving his son, who was fairly young, and his wife. Would they still live in the Justice Building with him, or would they be kicked out? Or would Nene have to take over instead? 

Hideyori seemed to notice Kanbei’s uneasiness and quickly said, “But I didn’t come here to tell you about my problems. I’m sorry to bother you with them.” 

He began to talk about an entirely different subject altogether. It startled Kanbei how easily Hideyori was able to change his attitude about something. He couldn’t have possibly put it off, simple as that. He must have been trying to distract himself, just as he was trying to distract Kanbei. 

It seemed like ages before everyone was required to go into the Square to watch the Games, live on camera, as usual. Hideyori went to the door to meet up with his family, but before he left, Kanbei spoke. 

“Hideyori, if you need to talk to someone about what’s happening at home, you can talk to me when we meet.”

Hideyori stopped and turned to look at Kanbei, then smiled warmly and nodded. 

************

* * *

The one thing entertaining about the Hunger Games, Kanbei had decided, was watching the Careers scuffle about the littlest things. 

Sure, this time they were arguing about killing the District 12 female tribute, but it was still morbidly humorous. 

A little. 

“Calm yourself, Ran,” Kunoichi groaned, laying on a tree branch, both eyes closed. 

“I  _ am _ calm, you idiot woman,” Ranmaru snarled, pointing his sword up at the ninja, who yawned. “But you’re  _ sleeping _ while I’m trying to tell everyone something!” 

“Yukimura will tell me everything. Won’t you?” Kunoichi leaned over and made a pouty face at her tribute partner, who flushed red. “See, he’s not immune to my cute face.” 

“Your ‘cute face’ looks like a pig with shit under its nose,” Ina muttered, to which Kunoichi flipped her off and gave a loud, obnoxious snore. Ranmaru rubbed his forehead in frustration.

“Okay, fine. Listen, we need a plan to kill that girl from 12, and I think I have one.”

“Perfect, so you can execute it yourself?” Kunoichi asked from the tree. 

“No, this plan involves all of us.”

“It’s  _ your _ revenge. Mitsuhide didn’t kill anyone  _ I _ love.” 

Ranmaru looked ready to slice Kunoichi’s head off with his sword, and relieved these feelings by slashing at the tree she was laying in, clipping off a bit of her jacket sleeve. 

“You naughty boy!” Kunoichi mock-scolded, jumping up and snatching the sword from Ranmaru’s hands by the blade. She hissed in pain when the sword cut into her hand, but leapt to a higher branch and teasingly waved the sword (by the handle this time) at Ranmaru. “Anyway, what is your big galaxy-brain plan?” 

“Simple. We find where she’s camping and surround her. Kill everyone in the vicinity so no one can get in the way, and then we just…” Ranmaru made a stabbing motion with his fist. Kunoichi gave another fake snore.

“Bor- _ ing! _ Too much work! Besides, who would guard the supplies? I say only one of us goes. Maybe Ina. If by some chance that girl kills her, Ina’s the most useless one of all of us. We can afford to lose her.”

“HEY!” 

“Kunoichi, don’t say that,” Yukimura said. “We need everyone, don’t we?”

“No, that… that might be an okay plan.” Ranmaru looked reluctant to admit it, especially once Ina turned on him. 

“You think I’m useless too?! We’re partners, Ran!”

“No, you’re actually more skilled than any of us! Besides, you can shoot her from a distance and run away without being caught!” 

“Funny story, whenever  _ I _ suggest that, you turn me down! But now you think I’m worth something?” 

“Worth dying,” Kunoichi snickered. Ina threw an arrow at her, which instead sailed past Kunoichi and farther into the forest. “Look at that! You can’t even aim. Maybe you are useless.”

“I am  _ not _ useless!” Ina growled. “If I have to prove that, then I’ll go to kill Tama myself--”

“No, that’s actually  _ my  _ job,” Ranmaru cut in. “But, if you can get the boy from 12 who said he would protect her, that would make my life a lot easier. And you’d be really useful.”

Ina’s expression of anger turned to one of excitement. “Really? Then I’ll do it! I’ll find him tonight before dinner so we can celebrate!” 

Kanbei sucked in a breath. Hanbei would really need to watch out.

* * *

Kanbei watched as Hanbei and Hayakawa trekked through the woods for quite some time, to help Hayakawa work on navigating despite her blindness. At one point, Hanbei offered a big stick he found, but Hayakawa politely refused it, saying “I’m going to learn to find my way without one.” He still brought it, though. 

They had seemed to have developed a simple system so Hanbei could alert her if something was in her way. If she had to step to her left, he’d click his tongue once, if she had to step to her left, he’d click it twice, and if she had to step over the obstacle, he’d click it three times. 

“It’s late in the evening now, isn’t it? Maybe we should stop,” she suggested, tugging on Hanbei’s sleeve. 

“Good idea. We’re actually at a big tree with perfect roots, so I think we should stay here, yeah?” 

They sat down on one of the roots, and Hanbei pulled out some of the dried chicken stripts from his backpack, along with some lotus roots they had saved from the previous night. They ate them slowly, as if they wanted to savor the taste, and each drank a bit from Hanbei’s canteen of water. All was calm, and Kanbei was reassured, thinking that maybe Ina wouldn’t find them. 

He was proven wrong. 

An arrow, shot from very high in a tree, flew towards Hanbei, and it was only because of his quick reflexes that he leaned to the side, bumping into Hayakawa, but letting the arrow fly into the darkness behind him. 

“What the hell?” he hissed, pulling Hayakawa to her feet. He pulled out the arrow that was in his bag and held it out in front of him, hoping that he could steal the bow from Ina. 

“Huh, looks like you’re quicker than I thought,” came her voice through the darkness. “But there’s no way you’re going to get me by throwing an arrow at me. Even with the blind girl at your side, you still have no help!”

“Whatever you do, don’t hit her!” Hanbei shouted warningly. Ina laughed, and another arrow came sailing through the air, forcing Hanbei to pull Hayakawa out of the way. Hayakawa grabbed the stick previously offered to her and held it out. She whispered something to Hanbei, who looked around and scooped up a fairly large rock, handing it to Hayakawa. She tossed it in her hands a few times, then nodded. 

“Let’s see if I can do this without sight,” she said, and she tossed the rock into the air, then forcefully swung the stick at it. It hit the rock into the darkness, which slammed into something. 

“Did you hit her?”

“I don’t know. I was going by where I heard her.” 

Soon, there was a loud, angry humming sound, and Ina shrieked. The tree she was in started to shake, and there was the sound of her falling and hitting the ground with a loud thud. The camera panned to her as she writhed on the ground, screaming and swatting wildly at the large wasps that were swarming her. 

“Did you hit a nest of  _ tracker jackers? _ We need to go, we need to go! Go, go, GO!” Kanbei heard Hanbei yell frantically, and there was the sound of leaves crunching under hurried footsteps. Ina scrambled to her feet to chase them, covering her face with her hands, one of them with a bright red welt that had swelled up. There were more on her arms and legs, even larger than the one on her hand. The wasps were still just as relentless as ever. 

“NO! No, come back! WAIT!” Ina cried, sounding close to tears. “I have to… I have to go back....” 

She wobbled unsteadily as she stood and suddenly collapsed onto her side. The wasps started to disperse, flying away from her, as though knowing their job was done. She curled her hand slightly towards her bow, which lay only a few inches away, as though she wanted to grab it, but her hand fell limp and she moved no more. 

“Kunoichi, get some sleep. I’m taking watch for the night,” Yukimura said when he noticed his district partner was still perched in her tree, her eyes searching the dark forest for something. She waved him off, saying, “You can sleep. I’m waiting for Ina to come back.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know how good this is honestly i just spit words onto google docs and paste them here and publish it with reckless abandon
> 
> ~~i probably should proofread LMAO~~

**Author's Note:**

> eugh sorry if this felt rushed but i hope you liked it! will i continue this? maybe  
> this fandom is so dry and sad and dead


End file.
